Christmas Cards - Which Kind to Buy?:

It used to be that every year your family would sent out generic Christmas cards and receive many of the same styles in the mail from your close friends and family. Now, with the advent of digital photos and the ability to put photos and greeting cards, we get exciting Christmas cards with hand written messages, family picgtures, and even cards that play music. Personalizing Christmas cards makes writing them and sending them that much better knowing that you had something of your own put into each and every card. I personally prefer the photo Christmas cards - each year we collect all the ones that are sent to us and put them up on our refrigerator for a few months so that we can see all the changing families that we know. I think most families enjoy being able to send a unique Christmas card with their photo on it and perhaps a short note updating people on what has happened over the last year.

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Hallmark is probably the most widely recognized name in terms of greeting cards and they do one heck of a business during the holiday season. If you buy an individual Hallmark card at the store it can run you $4 to $5 so that is why buying boxed Christmas cards for $1/each or less is a great idea during the Holiday season. You can always customize each card with photos on the inside or a special note. If you go to Hallmark.com you can view their latest Christmas cards and even have them shipped to your home or to the recipients home. Hallmark still offers a huge choice of themed cards like religious, humor, patriotic, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Thomas Kinkade, photo holders, contemporary or classics. Some of the more popular themes are of horses, dogs, religious verses, and golf. No matter what, it always feels good to receive or send a Christmas greeting card. Our favorites tend to be the handmade cards by children at school and delivered to parents with bright eyes and hope that you will like them. Some of the best Christmas cards are those made by kids - they truly show off the uniqueness of how children see the holidays.

Photo Christmas Cards:

More and more each year you see Christmas cards that have family photos and memories on them with a brief holiday greeting. Families have come to realize that the personal touch is what Christmas is all about and photo printing services have enjoyed the profit that comes with this relatively new product. Shutterfly.com and Ofoto.com are 2 of the better online photo Christmas card services that allow you to upload a family photo (any photo you want really) and turn it into a nice looking X-Mas greeting card with your own selected colors, borders, and design. Now you can upload more than 1 photo and place them on a card. If you order 51-100 cards the pricing is currently set at $1.59 per card which is still pretty reasonable considering the custom aspect you get with them. If you need less than 10 you are going to have to pay $2.49/each at which point we might say it's not worth it. Each year these online picture Christmas card companies offer new designs and captions to put on your cards. It's really easy to do for anyone - just upload your photo to their website, pick the style of card you want, pick the captions, borders, colors, etc. and then the quantity. They make them within a few days and ship them off to you so you can mail them to your co-workers, friends, and family members.

Business Christmas Cards:

Many of us never realize how much money is spent by corporate America on business Christmas cards each year. Companies use this opportunity to get their name and logo in front of current or prospective customers and it's very cost effective. There are literally dozens of websites that come up when you search for "business Christmas cards" but we like Cardsdirect.com for their professionalism and card selection. They are the premier resource online for businesses that want to send out Corporate Christmas Cards or want a bulk discount. Cardsdirect will professional imprint company greeting cards and holiday cards with your business name and your company logo letting you choose the verbage, card style, colors, themes, etc. You can view their Christmas greeting card styles at http://www.cardsdirect.com/holiday/christmas/cards.aspx. Pricing was between $1/card and $1.75/card for most of their selections and you have the option of adding your own words on many of the cards. For a quick comparison on prices and greeting cards go to executivegreetingcards.com for an additional source on business Christmas cards.

Free Online Christmas Cards:

The great thing about the Internet is that now you can wait until the last minute to send Christmas cards to certain family members or friends and do it online where the card gets sent instantly and you don't have to wait in line at the post office to mail it. Although considered "bad etiquette" at first, sending online Christmas cards has become a common tradition around the holidays at least in America. We all want to save time and still get our message out to loved times during the Christmas season, and using the free Christmas card services online do that without a problem. You can customize and personalize the message, picture, and card all to your liking before ever sending the card away via email. I don't recommend using this type of service to people who may take it as an impersonal gesture on your part, but certainly close friends and some family members will appreciate not having to open another card in the mail and put it up in their house somewhere. The top sites for free Christmas cards are Bluemountain.com, Americangreetings.com, and 123greetings.com. Often referred to as e-cards, these Christmas cards are actually fun to make since you can make them unique with your own words and pictures. Give it a try this year and see how people respond. Some of the better online greeting card sites offer animated Christmas cards with moving scenes of Santa Claus, Reindeer, presents, elves, and more.

Handmade Christmas Cards:

Usually your children will be the bearers of handmade Christmas card projects that they do at school or art class, but more and more I see other families making homemade Christmas cards to get that personal touch back into the holiday. I think it's a great way for the entire family to come together during the Christmas season and get in the "spirit" of being together and doing a project as a close knit family. Handmade cards are unique and you can make them funny, patriotic, religious, or serious. An excellent site to start with is located at http://www.making-greeting-cards.com/christmas-cards.html - they offer tips on making homemade Christmas cards, ideas on Christmas Cards, links to printable Christmas cards that you can customize and print out.

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